Post by Joanna on Aug 21, 2018 14:10:02 GMT -5

Joseph Oberhansley (above), 35, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, has been deemed competent to stand trial. He is accused of raping, killing and eating parts of his ex-girlfriend’s body.

Prosecutors say Oberhansley broke into the home of Tammy Jo Blanton (above right) in September 2014 and stabbed her to death. Following his arrest shortly thereafter, he was committed to Logansport State Hospital after a judge ruled he wasn’t competent to stand trial. Now a state psychiatrist has pronounced him competent. “This matter has been going on for four years now and it’s high time that the victim’s family saw justice done,” Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Jeremy Mull told the Courier Journal.

However, despite the opinion of the state psychiatrist that he is now competent to stand trial, Oberhansley’s defense attorneys may still question his competency, which would then trigger a hearing after which a judge would make the final decision.

During the hearing, Oberhansley said he needs to fire his attorneys. “They’re trying to control my thoughts,” he told Judge Vicki Carmichael. “They’re trying to control my mind.” She told him he needed to work with his attorneys. As he did during his police interview in 2014, Oberhansley blamed two other men for killing Blanton. “I’m just so tired of dealing with all this stuff and being locked in this cage,” he declared. “I just want to be executed.”

Also during the hearing, Mull asked the judge to set a trial date within the next six months, but the defense requested an additional month before scheduling the trial. Mull said the defense attorneys wanted to speak with Oberhansley to decide if they will contest the competency opinion.

Oberhansley is charged with murder, burglary and rape and could face the death penalty if convicted.

A legal determination on Oberhansley’s competency has been in question for more than a year after his attorneys requested an evaluation in February 2017. In their motion, attorneys Westerfeld and Bart Betteau noted a “complete breakdown” in communication with Oberhansley, who appeared “suspicious, paranoid, uncommunicative and agitated” during their interactions.

In October 2017, after hearing from a court-appointed psychiatrist and two psychologists, Carmichael ruled the defendant wasn’t competent to stand trial and ordered him into the care of the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction.

Mull received a report last month from a psychiatrist at the state hospital. “We’re proceeding forward under the understanding and the assumption that he is competent to stand trial and participate in these proceedings based upon the medical expert’s certification,” he advised.

The next hearing in the case is set for Friday, September 21.

Killed another girlfriend in 1998. Oberhansley’s criminal history is significant: In 1998, while in Utah, he shot and killed his 17-year-old girlfriend and shot his mother in the back before turning the gun on himself and firing a bullet into his head. He was only 17 at the time and high on meth. Two years later, he pled guilty to manslaughter and received a sentenced of no more than 15 years.

In 2012, he was released from prison and relocated to Indiana. In 2013, he was arrested for choking a man in Jeffersonville and released on $1,000 bond. He was charged with strangulation and resisting arrest and his Utah parole officer was informed.

In the spring of 2014, Oberhansley began dating Tammy Jo Blanton, who was 13 years his senior.

In July of 2014, he led police on a slow-speed pursuit through two states and Utah authorities were again advised of a parole violation, but his parole expired the same day. His bond was reduced from $25,000 to $5,000 and Blanton paid the $500 to a bale bondsman for his release.

A month later, Blanton ended their relationship and shortly thereafter, Oberhansley broke into her home and killed her.

PETA Intervenes. Shortly after Oberhansley’s arrest in 2014, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wrote a letter to Brian Meyer, acting sheriff of Clark County, requesting the prisoner be restricted to an all-vegan diet. Lindsay Rajt, associate director, wrote: “Only vegan food could diminish that bloodlust and might even help protect staff and neighboring inmates.”

Meyer was livid. “It’s bad enough when you lose someone to natural causes, let alone dealing with a loss this violent,” he told WHAS. “That they [PETA] would do this is unfathomable to me. It’s insult added to injury. It’s unforgivable and they’ve lost all credibility with me!” Meyer initially dismissed the letter as a “cruel joke,” but upon closer inspection, realized it was genuine. “When I realized it was real, my first thought was to not even respond because it’s ridiculous.”

The letter isn’t PETA’s first such request. The organization made a similar request in a murder case in Tennessee and felt that doing so in the Jeffersonville case was acceptable given the cannibalistic nature of the crime. “We really want to take a situation that’s a tragedy and make it into something positive – to reduce the total violence in the world,” PETA spokesman Kenneth Montville told the Jeffersonville News & Tribune. It is his contention that everyone is “rightfully horrified” by Oberhansley’s alleged act and switching to a vegan diet would reduce violence and jail costs.

Meyer, however, said the sensitive nature of the case made the letter inappropriate. “I can’t believe they would be so insensitive to the victim and her family.”Sources: Matthew Glowicki, The Louisville Courier-Journal, August 13, 2018, and August 9, 2018; Travis Fedschun, Fox News, August 12, 2018; Claire Galofaro and Baylee Pulliam, The Louisville Courier-Journal, September 20, 2014; John Fisher, Medical Daily, September 12, 2014; :and The Associated Press.

Post by catherine on Aug 23, 2018 18:31:11 GMT -5

So the PETA freaks are now claiming people commit murder because they eat meat. That's a slap in the face to the families of murder victims everywhere. How long before they write a letter claiming that Mexican POS who stalked and killed Mollie Tibbetts was under the influence of meat?

Post by JoannaB on Jul 28, 2019 19:05:57 GMT -5

Joseph Obersanley Goes on Tirade at Pretrial Hearing

At a pretrial hearing Monday, July 22, Joseph Oberhansley, who is accused of the brutal murder and cannibalism of his girlfriend, told the court the allegations he raped Tammy Jo Blanton, 46, were “bull-crap lies.” During his 10-minute tirade, the 38-year-old defendant claimed Blanton was “getting high and drunk and texting a bunch of bull crap.”

The defense argued that text messages from Blanton claiming Oberhansley had raped her and that she was afraid of him should be suppressed.

Oberhansley also told the judge he had uncovered new evidence that pointed to his innocence and suggested detectives had missed the murder weapon, insisting it could not have been the “cheap little knife” investigators found.

As he left court, the defendant was attempting to speak with news reporters as deputies led him away.

Oberhansley is not only accused of the 2014 murder of Blanton, he is also facing charges for burglary and rape. Additionally, it is alleged that after breaking into Blanton’s home and stabbing her to death, he used an electric saw to open the woman’s skull and remove her brain, which he cooked and ate.

Defense attorneys initially pursued an insanity defense, but filed a motion last month to withdraw such. The defendant told the judge he felt using the defense would admit guilt and is unlikely to work. “What is the mental illness disorder that I’m ... supposed to have?” he asked during a May hearing. “I don’t like being portrayed in that light. I don’t suffer from any mental illness.”

Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said in a statement that while he supports the death penalty in the case, he has decided to withdraw it because of Oberhansley’s mental health, which could create the chance for reversal. “Because of the psychiatric evidence that’s been produced and put on the record in this case, I believe that it would be virtually impossible to see any death penalty in this case upheld in the federal courts,” the statement reads, in part. “Further, pursuing the death penalty in this case in light of this psychiatric evidence would present a substantial risk that any guilty verdict itself, in addition to the death penalty, would be reversed ....”

He also said removing the death penalty would save an estimated $1 million and add considerably to the “several hundred thousand” spent thus far, and significantly reduce the number of prospective jurors. As a death penalty case, there were roughly 2,000 in the jury pool, now the number will be closer to 200.

Tammy Jo Blanton’s family agrees with Mull’s decision and prefers proceeding with life without parole as opposed to the uncertainty of the death penalty.

Jury selection is set to begin Monday, August 19, and the trial is expected to last a week or more.

Post by Graveyardbride on Aug 23, 2019 0:40:35 GMT -5

Mistrial Declared in Case of Indiana Cannibal Killer

The judge in the trial of Joseph Oberhansley, 38, who is accused of killing Tammy Jo Blanton and eating parts of her body, has declared a mistrial. The proceedings ceased after a friend of the murdered woman mentioned Oberhansley’s drug use and the fact he had spent time in prison while on the stand, despite the fact Judge Vicki Carmichael had previously rules both were inadmissible at trial. The mistrial was declared following a recess.

Jeremy Mull, Clarke County Prosecutor, insisted he had instructed all witnesses on what they could and could not include in their testimony. “As unfortunate as this event was today, I don’t think it’s going to get us very far off track,” he said. “I do expect to have this trial going in September and by September sometime to have a verdict in this case.” He also said there were concerns if the trial had continued, the verdict would have been overturned by the appellate court. “The last thing in the world I can do is put this family through another four or five years of delays, trying to get another trial date. So if I’ve got to wait a week or two weeks behind schedule, that’s fine,” he added.

Brent Westerfeld, the lead defense attorney commented that while the judge made the correct decision in declaring a mistrial, it was still disappointing. “You feel like you were ready to go and suddenly you can’t go anymore, so it’s very much a let down,” he told reporters.

In testimony Wednesday (August 21), the jury learned that when Tammy Jo Blanton’s dismembered body was discovered in her bathtub, there were at least 25 stab wounds and blunt-force injuries to her throat, neck, nose, mouth, lips, fingers and chest and a camping tent had been draped over the corpse. “Joseph Oberhansley butchered Tammy Blanton like you wouldn’t kill a livestock animal,” Mull told the 12 jurors and four alternates.

Blanton, 46, and Oberhansley, who was 33 at the time, had been dating – and briefly lived together – in the few months leading up to her death on September 11, 2014. Just days before, Blanton had broken off their relationship and changed the locks on her Jeffersonville home, Mull told the jury. The day before she was murdered, Blanton told friends and co-workers she was taking her life back. She said she wasn’t going to live in fear of her ex-boyfriend or stay at a friend’s house anymore.

During the final moments of her life, Blanton locked herself in the bathroom in an effort to save her life, however, there was evidence Oberhansley had forced the door open. During a videotaped interview, the killer told police he kicked the door open. “Truth be told,” he said, “she really wasn’t all that scared, surprisingly. Like she knew [she was going to die], you know what I mean?”

“In her last moments, she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of seeing her scared,” Mull declared.

The jury also heard from two of Blanton’s friends who testified she was so terrified of Oberhansley she moved out of her home and stayed with a friend for several days. After her father changed the locks, she returned to her home, but assured the witnesses she had the police on “speed dial.”

Although the defense wasn’t allowed to mention the defendant’s sanity or state of mind, Betteau asked the jury to think about whether a person is “thinking right” when he eats the brain and heart of his ex-girlfriend. “All I want you to do is to keep an open mind,” he implored. “[The prosecutor] told you about a few statements; select evidence. But there’s going to be a whole lot more. Her chest had been cut open. The heart was removed. The heart was eaten. I’m sorry that I have to go over this, but that’s what the evidence is. Think about the process and say to yourself, ‘Is this someone who’s thinking right?’ He thought that someone was after him.”

While the prosecution isn’t seeking the death penalty, if convicted, Oberhansley could be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Mull hopes the next trial will be underway by September 4, however, the defense and prosecution are still discussing their schedules. Jurors will be selected from the same Hamilton County jury pool.